When photography was still in its analogue era, Edwin Land unveiled the first commercial instant camera in the year 1948. A few years later Polaroid stepped in, improved the process and patented the technology. Sadly, the company couldn’t keep up and today Fujifilm is the sole maker of instant cameras and instant films.The company recently announced a bunch of instant cameras in India ranging from Rs 6,444 to Rs 10,999. The most affordable of the lot is the Instax Mini 8 which comes in a variety of peppy colours including white, black, blue, pink, yellow and purple. It is a simple point and shoot camera which uses a cartridge of instant films which are loaded at the back of the camera, similar to a film-based one. A standard cartridge contains 10 instant films which cost approximately Rs 500 for a pack. This might not sound a very cost effective way to get 10 small photos, but since you instantly get a print, your time and cost to get your photos printed from a photo studio is reduced.The shutter speed of the camera is fixed at 1/60 and the flash always fires, which can be annoying at instances like when you are shooting under the bright sun. The camera is very easy to use as there aren’t any settings on the camera except for brightness control via four modes; Indoors, Cloudy, Sunny and Bright. Basically these settings offer different aperture settings varying from f/12.7 to f/32. The viewfinder on the camera is disappointing as it is very tiny and the coverage area is also very less, which means that what you frame in the viewfinder is not the same in the photos. The small glossy photos definitely give you nostalgia even though the quality is not top notch. Frankly, one cannot expect high quality prints from such a low-priced camera.This camera is not for your everyday usage as a digital camera or even your smartphone offers better quality and are more practical. The instant camera is rather a fun tool to have for those special memories like a birthday party or a trip to Disneyland, or for someone who prefers to have a physical copy rather than staring at his/her display.(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)
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I have to say straight off that the Yoga 2 Pro tablet would look great on any table. It’s really not a tablet in the traditional sense, meaning it’s not a book-sized handy portable little thing that you can slip into a handbag or whip out in the car. It’s a whole 13 inches of hardware and more like half a laptop, the keyboard missing in action. But there is a nice use-case for it, and it’s on the CEO’s table, or the CMO’s briefcase. That’s because you can make a presentation in minutes. Here’s how:The cylindrical base of this tablet has a whole lot of stuff inside. There’s a battery, there’s a hinge to move the screen into different positions, there’s a power button and indication light, and there’s a pico projector. A few moments to take it out of a bag, a second to switch it on, ten seconds to tap your presentation in its app, a second to press the projector on — and you’re good to go. If the room can be darkened, you’re in luck and will just need to make sure the tablet is in the right tilt position and height to hit the wall. If there’s too much light, I’d switch to the tablet’s screen itself, a gorgeous QHD display with nice enough colours, brightness and viewing angles.You do get a non-pro version of this tablet without the projector, but come on, a projector is fun. You can just switch to the wall and a 50-inch image to watch a movie or catch up on YouTube. This isn’t home theatre. The picture on the wall will never be as beautiful as the one on the screen — but there are all sorts of situations when you could find the flexibility of projecting the screen on the wall helpful. There’s 30 to 50 lumens of brightness to this pico projector but yes, it will take up battery and resources if you use it for long.The kickstand on this tablet is released with a little switch and the panel located there lifts to let you put in an SD card. But this is a Wi-Fi-only tablet. That’s another reason why it’s really best on a desk or table.The positions you can get this tablet to perform include standing straight up or with a varying amount of lean-back. Lie it flat on the table and then lift the back by 20 degrees or so — that’s the position for projecting as well as for typing. You can also hang the tablet on the wall, but you probably won’t find yourself doing that too often.Sadly, this tablet doesn’t have a stylus else it would be even more enjoyable to work with. You can get one optionally, but it isn’t optimised for a stylus. The keyboard is big and full and if you’re a one-finger typist you’ll find yourself making too many big side to side movements looking for keys. You have KingSoft software pre-installed and it’s just like Microsoft’s Office suite. However, you can as well get the original since it’s now on Google Play. Yes, this device runs on Android KitKat, a version behind the current Lollipop. It performs well and smooth for the most part, but there are sometimes unexpected falters and even a crash or two. Somehow, the interface isn’t optimised through and through for the sheer size of this display.Battery life is a little wanting, but since it’s a more desk-bound tablet, you should have the charger handy. Rs 43,990 isn’t bad for the Yoga 2 Pro, but add the cost of an optional keyboard to that and it should be closer to Rs 45,000. The thing is, it’s very pretty. LG G FLEX 2The first time the LG G Flex came around, it cost around Rs 70,000 and no one understood why it should be curved in the first place. Its banana shape not only seemed like a gimmick, it had scaled down specs — such as a not-good-enough 720p screen. Not forgivable for such an expensive phone. It was also really large and wouldn’t fit in pockets.But LG has been listening to more sensible people and has improved upon the original. The G Flex 2 is much smaller at 5.5 inches. It’s comfortable to hold and fits the face by curving into it. The phone comes with a matching case in the box. It is probably best to use it as the gadget can be quite slippery. The glossy plastic back is removable, but the battery is sealed in.The curved shape of this phone actually does aid the viewing which becomes just a shade more immersive. But it’s not enough to make a difference over the host of other expensive phones around. It’s a whole Rs 54,990 worth of phone.This phone should probably have been called Curve, but it’s Flex because it can be pressed down on and will bounce back into its original shape. It’s also supposed to self-heal scratches. Nice, but not a reason to buy. The G Flex 2 flexes some muscle in the processor department. It has a Qualcomm 810, a 64-bit octa-core CPU running at 2.0GHz. There’s 2GB of DDR4 RAM and the internal storage is just 16GB, though the microSD slot lets you expand to 2TB. Except that the cards you get are only 128GB. A shocker is that 4G in India won’t work on this device. The cameras are 13MP and 2.1MP and they’re full of features such as optical image stabilisation. Photos and video are good on this device. The 3,000mAh battery doesn’t perform that well. The phone also heats up a little on heavy tasks. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)
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It’s testing time for Twitter. Literally. The social network is in such hot water with its investors, it’s trying everything to ensure users become more active and engaged and that advertising brands get to them in that happy state. Unfortunately, it’s been tough going so far, so much so that CEO Dick Costolo finally made good his plan to step down and let someone else have a good go. For now, that someone is co-founder Jack Dorsey, but the search is on for a more permanent leader who will hopefully know how to steer the little blue bird into safe territory, from where it can settle down to faster growth both in terms of users and revenue. Among the changes Twitter’s been making to its site and primary apps is new product and place pages. No one can miss that Twitter’s active users constantly talk about things they’re buying and places they’re going to. The conversation is probably more fast and furious than on Facebook. But try finding something when you need it and it’ll be a frustrating experience. Twitter Search is not the most rewarding – even though Twitter results could appear in Google searches now – and the signal to noise ratio is heavily skewed in favour of noise. Twitter has made a move to make it easier to discover products and places by giving them their own pages. Facebook already has pages for business and brands for years now and so does LinkedIn, though the professionals’ network is not aimed at direct selling. Now Twitter too has expanded the options for brands to show up beyond their company’s Twitter handles. This is just a test for now and is described on Twitter’s blog. An example of a book that people might be interested in and look for on Twitter will show up with the cover image, a description, relevant tweets from accounts you follow, and even video. There will also be a Buy on Twitter button, an upgraded and more contextual version of the earlier Buy Button Twitter had started. And that’s not all. It will be possible to create and access Twitter collections of pages which will be generated from content shared by the influencers in your network and also by Twitter curators. “This is just the beginning,” says Amaryllis Fox, Twitter exec, on the company’s blog, “In the coming months we’ll be testing new experiences and hope to give you the most personalised and relevant information about the places and things you want to explore.” She doesn’t give any hints about how this will be achieved, but make sure you have your Twitter apps updated to see what’s next.
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A leading IT provider, Mphasis, has launched Mphasis Next Labs’ maiden solution ‘HyperGraf’- an Omni-channel Digital 360 solution. HyperGraf provides the most comprehensive, accurate, real-time and actionable customer engagement insights across millions of data points spread over multiple customer engagement channels enabling real-time decision making.Mphasis Next Labs is a strategic initiative by Mphasis to research and innovate on emergent and future paradigms centered around customer co-creation. It focuses on effectively leveraging innovations in business & technology to drive creative disruptions in short bursts with low gestation and Go-to-Market time. It is an interdisciplinary group that explores application of fundamental principles, models and theories from mathematics, statistics, industrial engineering, operations research, psychology, economics and computer science to drive innovation and deliver business value. HyperGraf is an Omni-channel Digital 360° solution that transforms enterprise decision making by providing the most comprehensive, accurate, real-time and actionable Customer Engagement Insights across millions of data points spread over multiple customer engagement channels. HyperGraf is a Big Data Complex Event Processing engine which enables enterprises to innovate and make strategic decisions by analyzing content, collaboration and commerce networks. It generates actionable insights by correlating slivers of multi-structured customer data from diverse interaction channels and builds a single view of the customer with recommendations specific to the channels of interaction. The underlying analytics behind HyperGraf is based on Social Network Analysis, Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics, Streaming data analytics, Multi-structured data analytics, Natural language processing, Discourse analysis, Pattern recognition and Bayesian inference.It generates actionable insights by correlating slivers of multi-structured customer data from diverse interaction channels and builds a single view of the customer with recommendations specific to the channels of interaction. The underlying analytics behind HyperGraf is based on Social Network Analysis, Machine Learning, Predictive Analytics, Streaming data analytics, Multi-structured data analytics, Natural language processing, Discourse analysis, Pattern recognition and Bayesian inference. Dr Jai Ganesh, Vice President & Head at Mphasis Next Labs, said: “HyperGraf is the very first solution developed at Mphasis Next Labs. HyperGraf generates actionable insights by bridging the gap between enterprise data and external and third party data such as social media, credit scores, open data and other multi-media datasets. HyperGraf is cloud based, incorporates in-depth domain expertise, is flexible, customizable and requires no upfront investments. HyperGraf removes ‘gut-feel’ in enterprise decision making and facilitates Innovation driven Integrated Digital Customer Insights, Identifies comprehensive, accurate, real-time & actionable customer leads from diverse channels and facilitates the creation of engaging experiences across multiple customer touch points through higher relevance, convenience and responsiveness.”Gopinathan Padmanabhan, President - Global Delivery and HP Channel Sales, said: “Mphasis Next Labs brings together a multi-disciplinary team of experts in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Operations Research, Behavioral Sciences and Business to research, ideate, innovate and co-create IP with our customers. The team creates solutions and service offerings in emerging technologies like Digital and IoT for our customers in Mphasis’ areas of focus.”
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Kim says anticipating what’s next requires an understanding of the ‘East’ and the ‘West, writes Noor Fathima Warsia from Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity As digital impacts and transforms all media, Peter Kim, Chief Digital Officer, Cheil Worldwide, believes that it will change social media from its present form. Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Kim focussed on how brands should prepare for the future of social media. Having worked in digital strategy since 1999, Kim was amongst the first analysts to have a briefing with Facebook in 2005. Citing the evolution of Facebook from a university students’ platform and of YouTube that launched with a video of the San Diego Zoo, Mr Kim advised to look back at the history of these social media behemoths before considering trends that will shape the development of social media up to 2025. Needless to say that brands and agencies must understand global digital trends to seize the initiative in a new era of opportunity. “Today’s social media landscape has evolved dramatically over the past decade, but many brands continue to employ simple strategies from the pre-IPO days,” he said. He observed that innovation is a global process. Anticipating what’s next requires an understanding of the ‘East’ and the ‘West. Mr Kim pointed out five specific ways in which social media will evolve. #1. The new social mediaKim said that the way agencies utilised, and monetised, social will disappear. "I guarantee it,” he said, adding, "Social media as we know will no longer exist." #2. The Rise of Social CommerceLike most other platforms, commerce will be the holy grail for social media too. Initiatives are already seen by current players on how social media platforms will become more about transactions. #3. Social media will be ChineseAs Chinese brands grow into Western markets, and the significance of BAT - Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, is felt the world over, combined with the fact that China is set to be the largest digital economy, will bring an undeniable impact on global social media. #4. Subcutaneous Social MediaAs the conversations around Internet of Things (IoT) move to “addressability”, and social media is utilised as the connecting platform, a new set of opportunities will open up. #5. Automated Social MediaProgrammatic will make a noticeable impact on social media in the next decade. Mr Kim pointed out, “Programmatic has the ability to allow publishers to de-clutter sites and serve relevant advertising in a way that consumers will accept." #6. Snackable Social MediaIn order for brand content to stand out, publishers will have to craft bite sized content that will not only attract consumers but will also engage them to share the content. The other four points he made included social media being integrated, filtered, empowered and connective. “Just as brands have figured out how to use social media, the game has changed. Trends are moving off in new directions and people don’t want to just ‘join the conversation’ with brands. They want to engage brands in action. Brands need to evolve their approach to succeed in a new social world of ‘overload, filter failure and narcissism’,” Kim summed up.
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Soon, Pinterest users will have the option to buy pins they like on the platform. The innovation on Pinterest, brought on public demand, is expected to increase the rate of impulse buy through digital media among mobile shoppers.Pinterest is a social media site that allows users to create collections of photos, articles, recipes, videos and other images that are called “pins”.While browsing through Pinterest, if a user comes across an item with a blue pin button, he can buy the product directly through the social media platform. Further, Pinterest has also developed a secure payment gateway for completing transactions; it allows users to pay through Apple Pay or credit cards.With buyable pins, Pinterest will now enter the arena of e-commerce where it will have to compete with powerhouses such as Amazon globally and Flipkart and Snapdeal in India. That said, the new feature is expected to get Pinterest a larger user base that will see the application as an online shopping destination.Buyable pins are a treat for sellers too as Pinterest will also feature promoted pins on its application to garner greater revenues for itself and more visibility for the sellers’ products. In the US, Apple users will be able to enjoy the option of ‘buyable pins’ on Pinterest sooner than their Android peers who will see the button being rolled out a couple of weeks later.Facebook Goes LiteSocial networking giant Facebook has rolled out its lighter version — Lite — for users accessing its services with slow data connectivity and poor bandwidth. The application, which is less than 1 MB in size, comprises Facebook’s prime features such as news feed, photos, and notifications, among others. “Facebook Lite was built to give people a reliable Facebook experience when bandwidth is at a minimum,” says Vijay Shankar, product manager of Facebook Lite, in a blog post. The application is available on all Android phones.All That Hype In a recently released study of more than 3 million social media user interactions, Forrester found that for every 1 million followers of a brand on Facebook, only about 700 active engagements occurred (i.e., liking pictures, commenting on threads, etc.). Twitter’s active engagement rate was about 300 for every 1 million followers. After all the math was done, the average follower to brand engagement rate for top social media platforms was about 0.1 per cent.Huge HangoutLatest findings reveal that 33 per cent of all professional people are on LinkedIn, making it a gold mine for professional acquisition, recruiting and industry networking.LeadersKiran Mazumdar Shaw@kiranshaw Chairman & MD, Biocon“Every investor I speak to in the US is now getting impatient n wants Modi Govt to ‘Walk the talk’ of regulatory hurdles n business ease.”Jeff Weiner@jeffweiner CEO, LinkedIn“Compassion is not conditional. To the contrary, it’s arguably of greatest value when most difficult to summon.”(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)
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“I believe and trust that Jack Dorsey is there on a temporary basis”— Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi prince and one of Twitter’s earlier investors, believes the social messenger’s interim chief executive should not get the job permanently because of his other job commitments“It’s not enough just to set goals to hire more women and minorities for the sake of diversity. You have to build the whole ecosystem”— Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel, after the announcement of the creation of Intel Ventures’ $125 million venture capital fund to fund companies led by women and under-represented minoritiesJohn Chambers, CEO, Cisco“40 per cent of businesses in this room, unfortunately, will not exist in a meaningful way in 10 years. If I’m not making you sweat, I should be. It will become a digital world that will change our life at the pace of a technology company change”— John Chambers, CEO, Cisco, in his last keynote speech to 25,000 attendees“The new devices will be ‘super-thin, super-flexible’, so readers will be able to roll them up and put them in their jacket pocket”— Mathias Doepfner, CEO of Axel Springer SE, on how the news of the future will be consumed on electronic paper and not on mobile phones or tablets“We have a wearable technology that’s coming out next year with Michael Kors that could really turbocharge the entire industry”— Kosta Kartsotis, CEO, Fossil, hoping to capitalise on the buzz for wearable technology being ushered in by the Apple Watch and other new gadgets.“If you take care of your employees they will take care of your business. That is a philosophy that has served us well for more than four decades, and is the foundation of everything we do at Virgin”— Richard Branson, CEO, Virgin Group, in a blog post, after the UK-based group announced that it will now offer staff up to a year’s parental leave on full pay“As far as succession goes, I am still in command and I am getting all professional chief executives as I do not want a family member to be chief executive of the company”— Anil Agarwal, CEO, Vedanta Group, soon after he announced the merger of oil explorer Cairn India with Vedanta. He wants to separate ownership and management, appointing professional managers rather than kin to top posts(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 13-07-2015)
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Many startups were waking up to the importance of compliance, Umang Bedi of Adobe tells Businessworld's Vishal Krishna Five years ago Adobe Systems products were the favourite pirated downloads in India. At the same time, there were so many startups that began using their products without really knowing that they were using pirated software. Next thing you know these startups had scaled up and were struggling to find the original version of the Adobe software. It's with these small businesses that the San Jose-based company wants to build a brand in India. It also wants to bet big on the smart city program where paperless government offices will become the norm, which will help citizens to use digital forms. Over the last year it has made efforts to connect with over tens of thousands small businesses to offer pricing that varies between Rs 60,118 per month for the whole creative cloud and Rs 15,990 per month for a single app for new customers. The pricing is substantially less for customers who are migrating to creative cloud. Five years ago, these small companies were subject to expensive enterprise licences. "This effort has made India the second largest market in the Asia region," says Umang Bedi, MD of Adobe Systems South Asia. He says that many startups were waking up to compliance and governance as a primary element in setting up businesses, which can help them raise private capital. Therefore it was easier for Adobe to get many more startups on board over the last 12 months. Adobe has also shut down its perpetual license business and has moved everything to a cloud-based business model, which charges customers based on the number of users. The company has also gone on to increase its enterprise business, in India, and has signed 500 term licences. Most of the large ad tech firms and ecommerce companies such as Flipkart use the marketing cloud to gain traction with customers. Umang adds that the marketing cloud was an important transformation piece for Adobe because it allowed digital companies to make, mobilize, manage, measure and monetise content. For its marketing cloud business it has the likes of Publicis, WPP and Sapient Nitro using the marketing cloud. "Software as a service is the preferred model today and all MNCs have already migrated to such a business model," says Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO of Greyhound Research. However, the Adobe India MD feels the government business has the potential to be the largest revenue earner because of the digital India and smart city programs. Adobe is already working on a program with the government where 28,000 villages can avail documentation services from a single source in a village. This is a paperless initiative run by the Central government. Adobe is also supporting 10 local languages that can be used by several education and government institutions. What remains to be seen is Adobe's foray in to setting up a program for startups, which others, such as Microsoft and Citrix, have already set up as accelerators.
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